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* banner photo courtesy of Pete Pin.

What is "No Justice No BART"?

No Justice No BART is a campaign of protests targeting the BART transit agency. We are fighting for justice for Charles Hill, Oscar Grant, Fred Collins, Bruce Seward, Jerrold Hall, Robert Greer, and all victims of BART police violence and murder. We demand that BART disband its murderous, inept, corrupt police department.

Our primary demand is for the BART Police Department to be shut down. BART does not have its own Fire Department, and it does not need its own Police department. BART's track record makes it quite clear that this transit agency cannot be trusted to run its own Police Department.

Our demands also include total transparency in the investigation of - and accountability for - police misconduct. We want all available information released to the public when there are questions about whether the police acted appropriately, and we don't want any lies, half truths, creative ommissions, or misdirections. Accountability should extend to any BART administrators who cover up police misconduct. Accountability should be both criminal (we want the DA to prosecute cops and BART administrators to the fullest extent of the law), and disciplinary: BART should fire employees who participate in violence and coverups. For more information, see our list of demands (past and present).

In general, we do not believe the police myth of "a few bad apples", and we are committed to articulating demands that address the systemic and structural causes of police violence, as well as demands that seek specific justice for killings, brutality, and corruption. We know that historically, when social movements wish to advance structural demands, direct action and civil disobedience tactics become necessary. In addition to attending BART Board meetings and working in coalition with other groups, part of our specific strategy is to target BART as an institution. We are committed to bring this campaign into BART stations, onto the platforms, and onto the trains. Since the BART system is so important to the Bay Area, we believe that disrupting BART's "business as usual" will puts serious pressure on all levels of government (city and county officials, BART, and the state) to produce the justice we demand.

No Justice No BART began organizing in January of 2009, in order to advance community demands in the wake of the police murder of Oscar Grant III. In the 2 years since Oscar was murdered, BART police have killed 2 more people, Fred Collins and Charles Hill. A surprising number of the "No Justice No BART" demands were met in the wake of Oscar Grant's murder, and this was due to sustained community pressure on BART, from a number of other community groups as well as from our actions. We are proud of the impact we have had and we know we still have a lot of work to do. We need your help to do it.